Tuesday, March 29, 2011

There's no reason to bring religion into it.I think we ought to have as great a regardfor religion as we can, so as to keep it outof as many things as possible.

Sean O’Casey, playwright; he wasborn on this date, 1880, in Dublin

I am a “rabid” supporter of the separation of church and state in America. In anywhere, probably. Let me be plain: I see no place in the World today where Religion contributes anything positive to political life ….. with the possible exceptions of Burma, and the Amish folk in Pennsylvania whose witness to Forgiveness at the mass murder of their children in a school was breathtaking. (This is not to say that some religious people don’t enhance cultural life positively; some do.)

O’Casey was brought up, of course, in Catholic Ireland. Need anything else be said in relation to his comment? His feelings are perfectly understandable. And to me, the same is true about “Christianity” in America, as it is (alas) represented by the so-called Religious Right. And of course this would be true in spades for the fanatic fringes of Religion which seem to be flourishing everywhere. Why they are, I’m not sure, and I would appreciate any enlightenment on this.

The “Religion” I’m talking about are those that have been co-opted in support of principles which are entirely contrary to their Founders or Founding. And at the moment that is about them all. Most of them have morphed into willing, obsequious toadies, supporting social and political and theological demagogs bent on their own aggrandizement. What a mess it has made the World.

We need to keep Religion politically “out of as many things as possible” ….. until Religions regain their integrity and authenticity. I definitely think that America would benefit from sound moral and ethical teaching of the young, in school. But that won’t happen ~ and must not happen ~ until Religion has something Godlike (of the God of Infinite Compassion) to say. I see no sign of it yet.